by T. Smollett
He makes a fruitless Attempt in Gallantry--Departs for Boulogne, wherehe spends the evening with certain English Exiles.
Having thus yielded to the hand of power, he inquired if there was anyother English company in the house; when, understanding that a gentlemanand lady lodged in the next apartment, and had bespoke a post-chaise forParis, he ordered Pipes to ingratiate himself with their footman, and,if possible, learn their names and condition, while he and Mr. Jolter,attended by the lacquey, took a turn round the ramparts, and viewed theparticulars of the fortification.
Tom was so very successful in his inquiry, that when his masterreturned he was able to give him a very satisfactory account of hisfellow-lodgers, in consequence of having treated his brother with abottle of wine. The people in question were a gentleman and his ladylately arrived from England, in their way to Paris. The husband wasa man of good fortune, who had been a libertine in his youth, and aprofessed declaimer against matrimony. He wanted neither sense norexperience, and piqued himself in particular upon his art of avoidingthe snares of the female sex, in which he pretended to be deeply versed;but, notwithstanding all his caution and skill, he had lately fallen asacrifice to the attractions of an oyster-wench, who had found meansto decoy him into the bands of wedlock; and, in order to evade thecompliments and congratulations of his friends and acquaintance, he hadcome so far on a tour to Paris, where he intended to initiate his spousein the beau monde. In the mean time, he chose to live upon the reserve,because her natural talents had as yet received but little cultivation;and he had not the most implicit confidence in her virtue anddiscretion, which, it seems, had like to have yielded to the addressesof an officer at Canterbury, who had made shift to insinuate himselfinto her acquaintance and favour.
Peregrine's curiosity being inflamed by this information, he loungedabout the yard, in hopes of seeing the dulcinea who had captivated theold bachelor; and at length observing her at a window, took the libertyof bowing to her with great respect. She returned the compliment with acurtsy, and appeared so decent in her dress and manner, that unless hehad been previously informed of her former life and conversation, henever would have dreamt that her education was different from thatof other ladies of fashion; so easy is it to acquire that externaldeportment on which people of condition value themselves so much. Notbut that Mr. Pickle pretended to distinguish a certain vulgar audacityin her countenance, which in a lady of birth and fortune would havepassed for an agreeable vivacity that enlivens the aspect, and givespoignancy to every feature; but as she possessed a pair of fine eyes,and a clear complexion overspread with a glow of health, which neverfails of recommending the owner, he could not help gazing at her withdesire, and forming the design of making a conquest of her heart.With this view, he sent his compliments to her husband whose name wasHornbeck, with an intimation that he proposed to set out the next dayfor Paris, and as he understood that he was resolved upon the samejourney, he should be extremely glad of his company on the road, if hewas not better engaged. Hornbeck, who in all probability did not chooseto accommodate his wife with a squire of our hero's appearance, sent acivil answer to his message, professing infinite mortification at hisbeing unable to embrace the favour of this kind offer, by reason ofthe indisposition of his wife, who, he was afraid, would not be in acondition for some days to bear the fatigue of travelling.
This rebuff, which Peregrine ascribed to the husband's jealousy, stifledhis project in embryo: he ordered his French servant to take a placefor himself in the diligence, where all his luggage was stowed, except asmall trunk, with some linen and other necessaries, that was fixed uponthe post-chaise which they hired of the landlord; and early next morninghe and Mr. Jolter departed from Calais, attended by his valet-de-chambreand Pipes on horseback. They proceeded without any accident as faras Boulogne, where they breakfasted, and visited old Father Graham, aScottish gentleman of the governor's acquaintance, who had lived as aCapuchin in that place for the space of threescore years, and duringthat period conformed to all the austerities of the order with the mostrigorous exactness, being equally remarkable for the frankness of hisconversation, the humanity of his disposition, and the simplicity of hismanners. From Boulogne they took their departure about noon; and as theyproposed to sleep that night at Abbeville, commanded the postilion todrive with extra ordinary speed. Perhaps it was well for his cattle thatthe axletree gave way and the chaise of course overturned, before theyhad travelled one-third part of the stage.
This accident compelled them to return to the place from whence they hadset out; and as they could not procure another conveyance, they foundthemselves under the necessity of staying till their chaise could berefitted. Understanding that this operation would detain them a wholeday, our young gentleman had recourse to his patience, and demandedto know what they could have for dinner; the garcon or waiter, thusquestioned, vanished in a moment, and immediately they were surprisedwith the appearance of a strange figure, which, from the extravaganceof its dress and gesticulation, Peregrine mistook for a madman of thegrowth of France. This phantom (which, by the bye, happened to be noother than the cook) was a tall, long-legged, meagre, swarthy fellow,that stooped very much; his cheek-bones were remarkably raised, his nosebent into the shape and size of a powder-horn, and the sockets of hiseyes as raw round the edges as if the skin had been pared off. On hishead he wore a handkerchief, which had once been white, and now servedto cover the upper part of a black periwig, to which was attached a bagat least a foot square, with a solitaire and rose that stuck upon eachside of his ear; so that he looked like a criminal on the pillory. Hisback was accommodated with a linen waistcoat, his hands adorned withlong ruffles of the same piece, his middle was girded by an apron,tucked up, that it might not conceal his white silk stockings, rolled;and at his entrance he brandished a bloody weapon full three feet inlength.
Peregrine, when he first saw him approach in this menacing attitude, puthimself upon his guard; but being informed of his quality, perusedhis bill of fare, and having bespoken three or four things for dinner,walked out with Mr. Jolter to view both towns, which they had notleisure to consider minutely before. In their return from the harbourthey met with four or five gentlemen, all of whom seemed to look with anair of dejection, and perceiving our hero and his governor to be Englishby their dress, bowed with great respect as they passed. Pickle, whowas naturally compassionate, felt an emotion of sympathy; and seeing aperson, who by his habit he judged to be one of their servants, accostedhim in English, and asked who the gentlemen were. The lacquey gavehim to understand that they were his own countrymen, called from theirnative homes in consequence of their adherence to an unfortunate andruined cause; and that they were gone to the sea-side, according totheir daily practice, in order to indulge their longing eyes with aprospect of the white cliffs of Albion, which they must never moreapproach.
Though our young gentleman differed widely from them in point ofpolitical principles, he was not one of those enthusiasts who look uponevery schism from the established articles of faith as damnable,and exclude the sceptic from every benefit of humanity and Christianforgiveness: he could easily comprehend how a man of the mostunblemished morals might, by the prejudice of education, orindispensable attachments, be engaged in such a blameworthy andpernicious undertaking; and thought that they had already sufferedseverely for their imprudence. He was affected with the account of theirdiurnal pilgrimage to the sea-side, which he considered as a patheticproof of their affliction, and invested Mr. Jolter with the agreeableoffice of going to them with a compliment in his name, and begging thehonour of drinking a glass with them in the evening. They accepted theproposal with great satisfaction and respectful acknowledgment, andin the afternoon waited upon the kind inviter, who treated them withcoffee, and would have detained them to supper, but they entreated thefavour of his company at the house which they frequented so earnestly,that he yielded to their solicitations, and, with his governor, wasconducted by them to the place, where they had provided an elegantrepast, and regale
d them with some of the best claret in France.
It was easy for them to perceive that their principal guest was nofavourer of their state maxims, and therefore they industriously avoidedevery subject of conversation which could give the least offence: notbut they lamented their own situation, which cut them off from all theirdearest connections, and doomed them to perpetual banishment from theirfamilies and friends: but they did not, even by the most distant hint,impeach the justice of that sentence by which they were condemned;although one among them, who seemed to be about the age of thirty, weptbitterly over his misfortune, which had involved a beloved wife andthree children in misery and distress; and, in the impatience of hisgrief, cursed his own fate with frantic imprecations. His companions,with a view of beguiling his sorrow, and manifesting their ownhospitality at the same time, changed the topic of discourse, andcirculated the bumpers with great assiduity; so that all their careswere overwhelmed and forgotten, several French drinking catches weresung, and mirth and good-fellowship prevailed.
In the midst of this elevation, which commonly unlocks the most hiddensentiment, and dispels every consideration of caution and constraint,one of the entertainers, being more intoxicated than his fellows,proposed a toast, to which Peregrine, with some warmth, excepted as anunmannerly insult. The other maintained his proposition with indecentheat; and the dispute beginning to grow very serious, the companyinterposed, and gave judgment against their friend, who was so keenlyreproached and rebuked for his impolite behaviour, that he retired inhigh dudgeon, threatening to relinquish their society, and branding themwith the appellation apostates from the common cause. Mortified at thebehaviour of their companion, those that remained were earnest intheir apologies to their guests, whom they besought to forgive hisintemperance, assuring them with great confidence that he would, uponthe recovery of his reflection, wait upon them in person, and askpardon for the umbrage he had given. Pickle was satisfied with theirremonstrances, resumed his good humour, and the night being pretty faradvanced resisted all their importunities with which he was entreated tosee another bottle go round, and was escorted to his own lodgings morethan half-seas over. Next morning, about eight o'clock, he was waked byhis valet-de-chambre, who told him that two of the gentlemen with whomhe had spent the evening were in the house, and desired the favour ofbeing admitted into his chamber. He could not conceive the meaning ofthis extraordinary visit; and, ordering his man to show them enter intohis apartment, beheld the person who had affronted him enter with thegentleman who had reprehended his rudeness.
He who had given the offence, after having made an apology fordisturbing Mr. Pickle, told him that his friend there present had beenwith him early that morning, and proposed the alternative of eitherfighting with him immediately, or coming to beg pardon for hisunmannerly deportment over-night: that though he had courage enough toface any man in the field in a righteous cause, he was not so brutal asto disobey the dictates of his own duty and reflection, in consequenceof which, and not out of any regard to the other's menaces, which hedespised, he had now taken the liberty of interrupting his repose, thathe might, as soon as possible, atone for the injury he had done him,which he protested was the effect of intoxication alone, and begged hisforgiveness accordingly. Our hero accepted of this acknowledgment verygraciously; thanked the other gentleman for the gallant part he hadacted in his behalf; and perceiving that his companion was a littleirritated at his officious interposition, effected a reconciliation, byconvincing him that what he had done was for the honour of the company.He then kept them to his breakfast; expressed a desire of seeing theirsituation altered for the better; and the chaise being repaired, tookhis leave of his entertainers, who came to wish him a good journey, andwith his attendants left Boulogne for the second time.
CHAPTER XXXVII.